INTERVIEW: Designer Tom Dixon Talks About Sustainable Design

Tom Dixon, design pioneer and all around renaissance man, was one of the big hits of HauteGREEN’s festivities, where he spoke about issues, concerns and contradictions in sustainable design, including materials, production, recycling and economics. Thanks to the video producers of Scribemedia, we have a great video of his conversation with design journalist Julie Taraska, in which he discusses his own work, sustainability, and his brilliant Second Cycle initiative for Artek.

Nama says:

June 14, 2007 at 10:18 am

I found two things he said to be interesting
First the idea that Ebay could turn into some sort of meta-recycler whereby everyone is able to constantly recycle objects (at least as long as they are designed with long life cycles)
Hence if your done with an object but it still has many years in it’s life cycle you sell it.
This is the reason behind why i frequent thrift and vintage shops (for clothing or furniture etc)

Also, i think that the 2nd Cycle idea is amazing.
Both from a “green” perspective, but also from a simple branding/commerce perspective.
They are getting two profit cycles out of a object. Are they re-finishing etc these items or simply selling them as is?
Either way, almost seems like an artistic performance piece commenting on commodification, branding and green all in one.
kate says:

June 15, 2007 at 5:34 pm

I think this is a really thougt-provoking interview with a great designer – but not someone I had really thought of as “green” before. Thanks for making me think about the different issues that go into sustainable design. And nice job on the Artek Second Cycle project Tom!